1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to templates and more particularly to the quilt template for producing a plurality of quilt pieces.
2. Background of the Invention
Quilting and more particularly crafting patchwork quilts has been a relatively popular activity throughout history. Patchwork quilts are produced by assembling a plurality of material pieces to form blocks. The blocks may be arranged in an artful design and sewn together. The preparation of the many blocks required to complete a quilt is a laborious and time consuming task.
In one example, the blocks may comprise two dissimilar pieces of material each cut as an equal sided right triangle with their hypotenuses adjacent to each other and sewn together to form a square. This then requires an inordinate amount of care be given to construct each block. The following U.S. Patents are examples of the prior art to construct a block to be utilized in a quilt.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,149 to Claytor discloses a quilt graphing system that enables a quilter to custom design quilts and appliques. The quilt designing system includes at least one transparent quilt graphing grid and a template. The grid has a plurality of uniform squares with dimensional markings (dots and dashes) on all four sides of each square in the grid. The dimensional markings divide each side of the square into thirds and quarters. So marked. the quilt graphing grid enables the quilt maker to graph in straight lines, extending between the dimensional markings, artwork beneath the transparent grid or artwork graphed directly on the grid. The template is specially designed for use by the quilt maker in marking each square of fabric to correspond with the shape of a specific portion of the selected design. and for cutting the squares of fabric with seams four piecing together the fabric squares to form the selected design.
U.S. Patent to Walker discloses a transparent flat sheet template facilitating the joining and cutting of pieces of fabric used to make conventional quilting units prior to assembly of the units into in a quilt. The template comprises a first edge having a first straight edge portion and a concave edge portion, the concave edge portion being a portion of a cirde. The template has second and third straight edges disposed perpendicularly to each other, and a fourth edge disposed parallel to the second edge. The template also includes an arcuate guideline which is generally similar in size and shape to the concave edge portion, and a grid of first and second sets of straight edges marked on the template. The first set of guidelines are parallel to each other and to the first. straight edge portion of the template. The second set of guidelines are parallel to each other and to the second edge of the template. The straight guidelines ate used to align the template with edges of a square of fabric. The concave edge portion facilitates accurate centering of a fabric circle on the square of fabric. and the arcuate guideline facilitates accurate cutting of the sewn fabric circle and square of fabric to produce quitting units.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,280 to Robell discloses a means of gridded measurement for the cutting of construction materials which comprises the imprinting of visually precise commonly used measurement markings upon the surfaces of construction materials during the manufacturing process to save time and improve the accuracy of cutting the construction materials on a job site. Unit markings may be numbered for quick dimensional reference and fractional markings may also be used. The lines for commonly used markings may also be highlighted, darkened, doubled, tripled, dashed or dotted, and color enhanced for easy recognition. Applications may include, but are not limited to, use on wallboard, shower board, insulation, gypsum board, plywood, and any other material which must be cut to exact measurements on a construction job site. Angled cuts may be easily made by cutting along the opposite corners of a predetermined number of grids counted in both horizontal and vertical directions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,987 to Robell discloses an improved system and method of gridded measurement for the cutting of construction materials which comprises the imprinting of visually precise commonly used measurement markings upon the surfaces of construction materials during the manufacturing process to save time and improve the accuracy of cutting the construction materials on a job site wherein the improvement lies in the use of a plurality of non-perimeter horizontal and vertical unit measurement markings; protractor markings; and inverted numerals, informational markings, nailing guides, product specification markings, and curved lines. Angled cuts may be easily made by cutting along the opposite corners of a predetermined number of grids counted in both horizontal and vertical directions, through use of the protractor markings, or a combination of both. In preferred embodiments unit markings are numbered for quick dimensional reference and visually precise fractional markings are also used. The lines for commonly used markings may be highlighted, darkened, doubled, tripled, dashed or dotted, colored, or otherwise enhanced for easy recognition. Applications may include, but are not limited to, use on structural and non-structural panels such as wallboard, shower board, oriented strand board (OSB), insulation, fire retardant panel products, gyp-sum board, plywood, and other substantially rectangular material which must be cut to exact measurements on a construction job site.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,926 to Robell discloses a system of gridded measurement for the cutting, measuring, fastening, and installing of construction materials which comprises the imprinting of visually precise commonly used measurement markings upon the surfaces of construction materials during the manufacturing process to save time and improve the accuracy of cutting the construction materials on a job site or in a manufacturing facility and nailing it in place. Different embodiments of the system have varying combinations of grids, inter-grids, perimeter horizontal and vertical unit measurement markings; non-perimeter horizontal and vertical unit measurement markings; highlighted markings; numerical markings; fractional markings; protractor markings; informational markings; nailing guides; product specification markings; and curved lines. Angled cuts may be easily made by cutting along the opposite corners of a predetermined number of grids counted in both horizontal and vertical directions, through use of the protractor markings, or a combination of both. Lines for commonly used markings may be highlighted for easy recognition in a variety of ways, such as but not limited to being darkened, doubled, tripled, dashed or dotted, or color enhanced. Although not limited to the following applications, the system of the present invention may be used on structural and non-structural panels such as wallboard, shower board, oriented strand board (OSB), rigid and flexible insulation that is available in an aggregation of fan-folded sheets, fire retardant panel products, gypsum board, plywood, plastic laminates, and other substantially rectangular material which must be cut and nailed to exact measurements on a construction job site or in a manufacturing facility.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,354 to Carbone discloses a device for forming straight and curved score lines in sheet material. The device has a scoring plate with a top surface with a number of spaced apart curved grooves formed on the top surface thereof. Each of the spaced apart scoring grooves has different radii of curvature. An optional overlay template portion has a number of spaced apart curved slots formed therein. The overlay template portion is adapted to overlay the scoring plate such that the spaced apart curved slots align with the grooves on the scoring plate when placed thereon. A scoring tool with a tip sized to fit into the grooves in the scoring plate and the slots in the optional template overlay portion is provided for scoring the sheet material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,458 to Hess discloses a quilting template method and apparatus. An exemplary quilting template apparatus includes a panel having a plurality of pattern pieces of a similar shape and size. Each pattern piece includes a first and a second plurality of slots disposed through the panel. Each slot is a guide for a marking device to apply a mark on a surface of a fabric along the respective slot. The panel has a fabric contacting surface and an opposite facing non-fabric contacting surface. A pictorial representation of a quilt design and a color scheme for the quilt design can be printed on the non-fabric contacting surface of the panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,829,833 to Langman discloses a guide for steadying the path of a cutting tool and enabling force to be applied to compress a workpiece on opposing sides of the path of the tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,918,189 to McBrayer discloses a combination layout tool especially for use in larger building projects that can be used repeatedly to accurately produce different angles and cuts or layouts. The tool is provided with incremental angle slots in radial alignment with a notch in one side edge for producing incremental angles, one or more rafter tail/ridgecut patterns in the side edge, angled slots in alignment with the short side of the patterns, tread and riser slots and an associated tread and riser hole in spaced relation from one another for laying out treads and risers for building stairs, a pivot point receiving hole and a plurality of incrementally spaced marker receiving holes for drawing different diameter circles, and/or one or more stud layout slots in the side edge for making stud layouts for framed walls.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,925,724 to Tandy discloses a quilting ruler which is square or rectangular in shape and has first, second, third and fourth edges with a first set of equally spaced rulings running parallel to the first and third edges of the ruler and at right angles to a second set of equally spaced rulings running parallel to the second and fourth edges of the ruler. The first line of the first set of rulings is spaced from the first edge of the ruler by a different interval from the interval by which the last line of that set of rulings is spaced from the third edge of the ruler, and the distance of each line of the first set of rulings from the first edge and of each line of the second set of rulings from the second edge is marked so as to be visible when the first and second edges of the ruler are in use and the distance of each line of the first set of rulings from the third edge and of each line of the second set of rulings from the fourth edge is marked so as to be visible when the third and fourth edges of the ruler are in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,281,337 Oehlke et al. discloses a template that aids quilt member fabrication. More specifically, a template is provided for selective inter-connection to layered fabric members wherein the template indicates the location for sewing and cutting individual fabric pieces that make up the layered fabric thereby yielding a composite quilt member.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,287,339 to Robertson discloses a template for ruling index cards and is a guide for marking a number of parallel lines on an unruled writing surface, such as a 3″×5″ index card. The template has a number of parallel slits spaced at predesignated distances from each other. Preferably, a template with horizontal slits is used in combination with a template having vertical slits to form a grid with horizontal and vertical rules for blocking letters, i.e., for creating blocks, which ensure uniform size and spacing of letters drawn on the index card. The template may be used to form a grid on a marking substrate, which is used as a guide for marking sweepstakes entries on the substrate. A transparency may be laid over the substrate, and cutouts formed corresponding to the entries to fort a template for sweepstakes entries from the transparency.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,350,473 to Henry discloses a simplification of the process of placing quilt ties in the quilt during the quilt making process. The quilt tie device contains a plurality of openings that identify locations in the quilt for quilt ties. A quilt maker places the quilt tie device over a top layer of the quilt. The quilt tie device is positioned such that the openings in the device are at locations on the quilt where the maker desires to place quilt ties. The quilt maker performs the quilt tie operation by tying a quilt tie in the quilt layer at each location in the quilt that indicated by an opening in the quilt tie device.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,383,640 to Barry discloses a quilting template system and a method for selecting a template to facilitate quilting a border-like area of a craft-work with length-sides and width-sides meeting at corners. The template system includes a set of templates each having an edge of repeated patterns of equal pattern-length but differing in pattern-length from template to template, and a correlator indicating which template(s) of the set are usable for the craft-work without fractional-pattern use on either the length-sides or the width-sides thereof. The method includes a sequence of steps for selecting a template by using the correlator to indicate which templates are usable for quilting the entire border-like area without fractional pattern use. The system preferably includes groups of templates, templates of each group each having patterns of equal pattern-length but differing in pattern-shapes from template to template within the group. Another aspect of the invention involves assemblages of templates on trays in uniplanar organized arrangement with adjacent templates having complementary edges. Yet another aspect involves a template for establishing a continuous stitch-line of repeated portions each with halves of inverted symmetry.
U.S. Patent Application 2005/0132592 to Robertson discloses a template for ruling index cards and is a guide for marking a number of parallel lines on an un-ruled writing surface, such as a 3″×5″ index card. The template has a number of parallel slits spaced at pre-designated distances from each other. The template may have slits disposed either vertically or horizontally. Preferably a template with horizontal slits is used in combination with a template having vertical slits to form a grid with horizontal and vertical rules for blocking letters, i.e., for creating blocks, which ensure uniform size and spacing of letters drawn on the index card. The slits guide a writing instrument as a user draws straight lines on the surface of the card, one card at a time.
U.S. Patent Application 2005/0252019 to Gordon et al. discloses a quilting template with a flat, transparent, circular plastic disk approximately one eighth of an inch thick, a centermost conical aperture to allow a pencil point or pin to act as a pivot shaft, a plurality of concentrically and radially disposed cutouts spaced around the center aperture, a plurality of conically shaped apertures placed at strategic lations within the disk, and silk screened or otherwise printed indicators on the disk. A preferred embodiment includes the radial cutouts are approximately one quarter of one inch wide so that the outer arc of the cutout can be used as a retaining wall for guiding a standard hand operated cutting wheel and the inner arc can be used to draw a sew line that is an ideal distance from the edge of the fabric being cut.
U.S. Patent Application US 2006/0130723 to Henry discloses a simplification of the process of placing quilt ties in the quilt during the quilt making process. The quilt tie device contains a plurality of openings that identify locations in the quilt for quilt ties. A quilt maker places the quilt tie device over a top layer of the quilt. The quilt tie device is positioned such that the openings in the device are at locations on the quilt where the maker desires to place quilt ties. The quilt maker performs the quilt tie operation by tying a quilt tie in the quilt layer at each location in the quilt that indicated an opening in the quilt tie device.
U.S. Patent Application US 2007/0011900 Mastroianni discloses a template for use in cutting a good contained in a pan enabling the baked good to be cut into a plurality of substantially equi-sized pieces. The template includes a substantially planar body including a plurality of first slots and a plurality of second slots. The plurality of first slots are substantially parallel and are spaced approximately equidistantly across the body. The plurality of second slots are substantially parallel and are oriented obliquely with respect to the plurality of first slots.
U.S. Patent Application US 2007/0193051 to Winslow discloses a cutting template including a guide surface with a plurality of parallel first marking lines and a plurality of first grooves in the guide surface. The grooves form a substantially zigzag pattern across pathways defined by the first plurality of marking lines. A plurality of second marking lines are also in the guide surface, and define at least two sides of a predetermined shape. A plurality of second grooves are also in the in the guide surface, and define at least two sides of the predetermined shape.
U.S. Patent Application US 2008/0078094 to Baumann discloses a graphing template including a substantially square shaped, rigid piece of planar material. The planar material includes two elongated openings extending through the planar material and intersecting to form an origin and define four quadrants. The elongated openings are sufficiently large to accommodate a tip of a writing instrument such that a two dimensional graph may be generated by depositing the template onto a writing surface and thereafter inserting the tip of the writing instrument into the elongated openings and marking upon the writing surface to form an “x” axis and a “y” axis. The planar material includes an array of circularly-shaped holes located equidistance from one another in each quadrant and extending through the planar material. These circularly-shaped holes are arranged in equidistance rows and columns and are positioned in groups in the four quadrants. The planar material also comprises four straight outer edges, where at least one outer edge of the plane plate is comprised of ruler markings.
Although the aforementioned prior art have contributed to the construction of a single block, none of these prior art patents produce a plurality of quilt blocks simultaneously.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved device and method for the simultaneous preparation of a plurality of quilt blocks.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved device and method for the simultaneous preparation of a plurality of half square triangles to be utilized in a quilt.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved device and method for preparation of quilt blocks having finer dimensional tolerance than individually prepared quilt blocks.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved device and method for preparation of quilt blocks wherein an operator of low skill may produce high quality quilt blocks.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the present invention. These objects should be construed as being merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by modifying the invention within the scope of the invention. Accordingly other objects in a full understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention, the detailed description describing the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.